Can filling and closing machine



March 22, 1932.

J. CEREGHINO Filed July 9, 1926 CAN FILLING AND CLOSING MACHINE 3 Shegts-Sheet l INVENTOR.

March 22, 1932. J CEREGHINQ 1,850,200

' CAN FILLING AND CLOSING MACHINE Filed July 9 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN [451v 701:.

W L I 7% A Ti RNE y March 22, 1932.

J. CEREGHINO CAN FILLING AND CLOSING MACHINE Filed July 9, 1926 s sneets-sheet s INVENTOR.

Patented Mar. 22, 1932 Q 4 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOSEPH CEREGHINO, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN CAN COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, .N. 'Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY CAN FILLING AND CLOSING MACHINE Application filed July 9, 1926. Serial No. 121,345.

This invention relates in general to can acid'or other corroding substance, alters or filling and closing machines, and more particdestroys the flavor of the contents of the conularly to a device that may be arranged to tainer When the sauce or liquid is depended cooperate with a closing machine for filling upon to season the food, and in all cases re containers or for discharging a liquid thereduces the amount of liquid or substance in the into just prior to the assembly of the cover container so that the containers cannot be and the closing operation. filled to an exact predetermined extent or so An important object of the invention is to that the extent of the filling of any and all provide such a device that may be arranged. cans will be uniform. In the present embodi- 10 to provide an attachment for or for operation ment of the invention the containers may be so by the closing machine and to discharge liqfilled to a substantially exact predetermined uid into the cans passing therethrough and extent with substantially liquid soups, conpreferably without. interrupting the movedensed milk, syrup, or the like, or soups-conment thereof or while the cans are passing taining a substantial quantity of solids and 5 through the machine, such as While being cona percentage of liquid such as sauce or the 66 veyed therethrough by moving conveyors or like, fish and oil, or other combinations, and like ap aratus. since the filling attachment is arranged on Anot er important object of the invention the closing machine or to fill the containers is to provide such a device that may be arjust before the closing operation so that they ;a ranged to cooperate with a can closing mawill require a minimum of transportation be chine, particularly such a machine of the tween the filling and closing stations and the type disclosed in Fleischer Patent N 0. 1,429; movement of the containers is uninterrupted 231, issued September 9, 1922, and with slight it is possible to fill the cans to a constant premodifications on other types of closing madetermined extent and the containers will not chines to fill or deposit liquid into cans just be marred by an overflow or spilling of the prior to the closing operation of the closing filling substance or the flavor of the submachine. In filling metal containers or tin stance altered by such spilling.

cans with certain classes of food products sub- Another important object is to provide a stantially solid substances are placed in the filling attachment that will form apart of an container or can and a liquid, such as oil or ordinary closing machine and that will opero other sauce, is added to fill the can. For exate in timed relation therewith upon conample, in packing fish ora like food an oil tainers passing through the machine so that is added to fill the can and for obvious reathe containers may befilled just prior to their sons, and in other classes of food products, passing to the closing elements of the closing such as soup, condensed .milk, syrup, or the machine. In the ordinary method of filling like, the can may be entirely filled with the and closing cans the can is filled either Wholly liquid. In either of the above classes of food or in part by a separate machine and then conproducts it is desirable to move the can as veyed by suitable conveyors or like devices to little as possible after the liquid filling and a closing machine. In many cases the filling prior to the closing of the container by the machine and the closing machine are separatclosing machine or other cover attaching ed an appreciable amount and, aside from mechanism. This is because the transport the objects above mentioned, botht me and ing or moving of the filled container usuallyexpense are involvedv in transporting the results in more or less spilling of the liquid filled container from one machine to the filling which may be caused by irregular. other.

movement of the containers or the vibration Another important object is to provide a of the carrying parts of the machine or other filling atachment for can closing machines conveying devices. Such a spilling of the that may be positioned on or attached to the contents results in externally soiled containregular closing machine, such as the machine ers, especially when the liquid contains an shown in the Fleischer patent above menme tioned, without making any change other than to remove the ordinary topping mechations.

Another important ob'ect of the invention is to provide such a device that-will operate by gravity and eliminate the necessity of liquid pumps or like devices for causing flow of the liquid that involve considerable expense and attention.

Another important object is to provide such a device that may be adjusted to control the amount of liquid discharged into the containers and that is controlled by a container located in position to receive a discharge of liquid therefrom, so that in the event that no container is beneath a filling device to receive a discharge, no discharge will take place. 1

Another important object is to provide a filling attachment for a closing machine in which the containers travel about a vertical axis in their path through the machine that is arranged to travel about said axis during the filling operation so that the filling or depositing devices may deposit the liquid into the containers while the containers are in motion and successively presented to receive umerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent as it is better understood from the following description, which, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferred embodiment thereof.

' Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a closing machine and devices attached thereto embodying my invention,

, line 44 in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 5 is a section taken substantially on line 5-5 in Fig. 3 and showing a roller and stud part in full.

To illustrate my invent-ion I have shown a can closing machine of the type and character shown and described in the Fleischer patent above referred to, which includes a frame 11 sup orted upon a base 12, and havmg an extenslon shelf 13, a seaming head 14, a can end magazine 15, a conveyor 16, a can positioning, spacing or locating device 17 a transfer device 18, and transmission devices for driving the various parts above mentioned. The frame 11 is arranged to provide bearings for all of the rotating parts and for thereto. ,Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine shown the attachment of all operating parts, and the base 12 is arranged to support the machine on a surface such as a floor or the like. The seaming head 14 may contain any desirable seaming apparatus 01" devices that will secure a can cover to a can body. The seaming head may be arranged. over the conveyor in any suitable manner, so as to receive containers or cans therefrom after a cover has been applied by suitable mechanism from the. cover station 15. The cover station 15 includes a plurality-of guides 21 secured to and extending from a frame part 22 between which a stack of covers 23 may be positioned and any suitable cover separating and releasing mechanism thatlwill deposit a cover upon each filled container prior to the operation thereon of the seaming head. The conveyor 16 may be any suitable device for conveying the cans in spaced relation and the conveyor shown is of the chain type, links 24 of which are provided with fingers for engaging and moving the can. The conveyor or conveying devices in this machine also include the 10- cating or positioning device 17 and the transfer device 18. The positioning or locating device 17 is or m y be any suitable device that will separate e cans or containers and deliver them in timed sequence to the transfer device and the transfer device is merely a rotating star wheel or similar device that will transfer the cans or containers from the spacing or separating device 17 and deliver them between the links 24 of the conveyor chain 16. The machine is or may be driven by a pulley 25 suitably secured to a drive shaft suitably supported in a housing 27 at the top of the frame 11. A vertical shaft 28 is suitably mounted in the housing 27 and in the frame 11 and receives motion from a worm 26 that is suitably secured to the shaft 30 through a worm gear 29 suitablysecured Motion is transmitted from the shaft 28 to a verticalshaft 31 through a pair of sprockets 32 and a chain 33. A sprocket 34 is suitably secured to the shaft 31 and arranged to drive the conveyor chain 16, which also transmits motion to a shaft 35, upon which a sprocket 36 is suitably mounted and arranged to be driven by the conveyor chain 16. The shaft is supported in a portion of the shelf 13 and drives a sleeve 136 through a gear 137 and'a pair of idler gears 37 and and 38, and a gear 39. A rotating part 41, which may be any suitable device for spacing the cans on a rotating table 42 of the can feeding and spacing mechanism 17, is or may be driven in any suitable manner,"not shown, from the gear 39 and in timed relation so as to space and feed cans to the conveyor 16 in proper sequence.

All of the above mentioned devices are of the type shown and described in the Fleischer patent above mentioned, and for this reason these parts have merely been diagrammatically shown in the drawings and no attempt I has been made to detail the various parts because the Fleischer machine is well known in the art and the'type of closing machine used is unimportant.

It is an important object of the invention to provide a gravity feed device for filling cans or a device inwhich the liquid is fed by gravity and discharged by gravity into the,,conta1ner. To accomplish this a nonrotary shaft 51-, which is mounted to provide a bearing for and extend through the rotary sleeve 136, is extended above the bed of the machine or shelf 13 and a cam 52 that is or may be suitably secured to the top end of the shaft 51 is formed to provide a supporting surface 53, and a liquid rotary receptacle or reservoir 54 is positioned on the supporting surface 53, so as to rotate with the sleeve 136, which receptacle may be of any suitable capacity and arranged to supply liquid to the containers or cans in any suitable manner. Liquid is supplied to the cans in the present instance by four substantially tubular depositing or discharging devices 55. It will be understood, however, that more or less of these devices may be used if desired-and to suit conditions. A spider 56 15 or may be suitably secured to the upper end of the sleeve 136, such as engaging in a keyway 58 and held against movement by'a screw 59. The spider 56 is preferably arranged to provide a double hearing or abearing 61 and a bearing 62, suitably spaced apart, to hold the spider 56 in ali ment with the shaft. The spider 56 is a so ided with a plurality of vertically disposed bearing portions 63 or small bearing portions arranged parallel with the bearing portions 61 and 62 and to provide bearings for the tubular devices 55. The bearin 63 may be spaced at any suitable distance fiom the shaft 51 and are slotted on their inner sides as at 64 to provide a uideway for a square portion 65 of a can re] er pin 66. The cam roller pin 66 may be of any suitable form and secured to the tubular devices in any suitable manner, and in the present instance I have shown the pin 66 mounted in an aperture extendin through a device 55, the lit being prefera ly tight so as to prevent leakage about the pin. The pin 66 is provided with a bearing portion 67 extending beyond the square portion and adapted to provide a bearing for a roller 68 that is arranged to ride or operate in a cam groove 69 of the cam 52. A roller 68 is or may be held ori the pin 66 by means of a screw 71 or the like. One or more brackets 72 are preferabl secured to the s ider and formed to exten upby a key 57 wardly there rom and for attachment to the receptacle 54 in any suitable manner so as to partly support the receptacle from the spider and to cause the receptacle to rotate therewith.

able form and a red by a reciprocating The tubular or discharging devices 55 may be any suitable devices adapted to receive llquid from the reservoir 54 and to intermittently discharge the liquid into containers. In the present instance I have shown these devices substantially in the form of a tube and provided with a nozzle 73 at their lower end and a cap 74 at their upper end. The nozzle 73 is preferably formed to provide an internal seat 75 that may be of anv suit- 7 6 carrying a plunger or plug 77 is arranged to extend through the tube and through a bearing 78 formed in the cap 74. The rod 76 is provided with a threaded portion 79 extendlng above the cap 74 and a knurled cap secured to the end of the threaded portion 7 9 to facilitate adjustment of the rod. The

rod 7 6 is positioned within the tube, as above mentioned, and arranged to release liquid therefrom which is supplied to the tube from the reservoir 54 through a flexible tube 82 movement of the rod. While such movement may be imparted to the rod in any suitable manner, it is an object of this invention to permit a discharge of liquid from the discharging devices 55 only when a can is in position to receive the liquid and to control the reciprocation of the rod to vary the discharge of liquid from the devices. This is accomplished by means of a pair of rods 83 that may be mounted in any suitable bearings carried by the discharging devices 55, such as the bearings 84 formed as a part of the cap 74. The rods are suitably secured at their upper ends in any suitable manner to an adjusting plate 85 that is formed to enga the threaded portion 79 of the rod 76, and at their lower end to a plate 86 that is formed to on age a tog of a can substantially as shown to t 1e left ig. 3) and to thereby arrest the rods 83, and consequently the rod 7 6, to releaseliquid from the discharging devices 55 by arresting the plu 77 which has the eflect of lifting or movi the plug 77 relative to the nozzle 73. A ock nut 87 is preferably provided to lock the plate85 in adjusted position.

An important object of the invention is to provide and arrange a device of this character that will fill the cans while the cans are moving or while they are being conveyed into or through the closing machine, so as toeeliminate spillage and additional handling. In the closing machine shown, the feeding and spacing device 17 the transfer device 18, and the conveyor 16, form a part of the machine and a continuous conveyor, since after a can 81 is or may be suitably IOU is spaced or located by the spacing and feedvices will move at'the same rate as a can passing along the conveyor and for a distance that will permit of discharging the maximum amount of liquid into a can. Viewing Fig. 4, it will be noted that the transfer device 18 moves the cans 88 in a substantially circular path, and that this path is substantially about the center of the shaft 51, about which the discharging devices are rotated and supported so that each will move about a common vertical axis. To cause the discharging devices to follow the cans or move with the cans, it is only necessaryto space the discharging devices from the shaft 51 accordingly and to rotate them in accordance with the speed of movement of the cans and preferably by the same driving element provided to move the cans, which in the present instance is the sleeve 136 that is arranged to drive the spider 56 and the star Wheel of the transfer device 18. It is desirable to control the discharging .devices so that they will automatically discharge a predetermined amount of liquid intc each can as it is passing along the conveyor This is accomplished by raising and lowering or reciprocating the discharging devices and providing these devices with a valve mechanism, which is preferably arrested and controlled by the cans and the reciprocation of the discharging devices. The cam 52 is formed to lower eabh discharging device as it comes into position over a can, to hold the discharging device down throughout a pre' determined degree of movement of the can or an amount that will permit of filling the cans to the maximum extent and to then raise the discharging device out of action once during each rotation of the spider 56.. The number of discharging devices provided is determined by the number of cans transferred by the device 18 in one of its revolutions. As above mentioned, the plunger 77 is arrested to open the seat 75 in the nozzle 73 by the plate 86 which, together with the rods 83 and 7 6, is carried by the discharging device 55.

When the discharging device is in raised or upper position, as shown to the right of Fig. 3, the plug 77 is held against the seat by the weight of the rods 76 and 83 and by the pressure of the liquid Within the tube, and when the discharging device is lowered, if no can is in position to receive liquid therefrom, the plug 77 remains on the seat and, consequently,

no liquid isdischarged. If a can be in position to receive liquid from the discharging device, the top of the can is engaged by the plate 86 during a part of the downward movement of the discharging device, so that the plug 77 is lifted or moved from the seat 7 5 and liquid is discharged into the container or can 88, the amount of liquid so discharged being determined by the len th of time the nozzle 73 is open. This depen s mainly on the length of the cam face which holds the nozzle down, but also can be afiected by the distance of the plate 86 below the nozzle, and this distance can be regulated by the position of the adj usting plate 85 on the threaded portion 79 of the rod 76, which may be controlled to cause a greater or less discharge of 1i uid. A plurality of openings 89 are prefera 1y provided in the caps 74 to provide a vent, which permits liquid to flow back up into the tubes of the depositing or discharging devices, so that the Water head at the nozzles will be constant and will not be limited by the restricted capacity of the flexible tubes 82. The level of the liquid in the reservoir 54 would constantly decrease during the operation of the machine and is preferably kept up to its normal level,

as seen in Fig. 3, by a supply pipe, not shown, leading to a point over the reservoir.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, or sacrificing all of its material advantages the form hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof:

I claim:

1. A filling device for discharging liquid into cans and arranged for operation in connection with a can closing machine having double seaming mechanism, for discharging liquid into cans passing therethrough, comprising, a vertically reciprocating liquid depositing device, a fixed cam, means for carrying said device around said cam, means for supplying liquid thereto, said depositing device including a vertically disposed substantially tubular part having a nozzle attached thereto, a plunger adapted to close said nozzle, and means for moving said plungerto release liquid from the nozzle.

2. A filling device for discharging liquid into cans and arranged for operation-in connection with a can closing machine having double seaming mechanism, for discharging liquid into cans passing therethrough, comprising, a vertically reciprocating liquid depositing device, means for supplying liquid thereto, said depositing device including a vertically disposed substantially tubular part having a nozzle attached thereto, a plunger rod mounted within said body and carrying a plunger adapted to close said nozzle, and means for moving said plunger to release liquid from the nozzle, said means being adjustable to control the amount of liquid discharged by said nozzle.

3. A filling device for discharging liquid into cans and arranged for operation in connection with a can closing machine having double seaming mechanism, for discharging liquid into cans passing therethrough, comprising, a vertically reciprocating liquid depositing device, means for supplying liquid Ill thereto, said device including a vertically disposed substantially tubular body having a nozzle attached thereto, a plunger rod mounted Within said body and carrying a plunger adapted to close said nozzle, and means for moving said plunger to release-liquid from the nozzle, said means being arranged to engage the top of a can located in position to receive liquid from said nozzle and for operation thereby.

4. A filling device for discharging liquid into cans and arranged for operation in connection with a can closing machine having double seaming mechanism, for discharging liquid into cans passing therethrough, comprising, a stationary shaft mounted on the closin machine and extending thereabove, a rotata le sleeve positioned over said shaft, a spider carried by said sleeve and'formed to provide a plurality of vertical bearings, substantially tubular vertically reciprocating devices slidably mounted in said bearings and carrying cam rollers, a grooved cam mounted on said stationary shaft and formed to reciprocate said tubular devices at least once for each revolution of said sleeve, a liquidreservoir carried by said spider and located above said cam, and means for conducting liquid from said reservoir to said tubular devices.

5. A fillin device for discharging liquid into cans an arranged for operation in connection with a can closing machine having double seaming mechanism, for discharging liquid into cans passing therethrough, comprising, a stationary shaft mounted on the closing machine and extending thereabove, a

and carrying cam rollers, a grooved cam rotatable sleeve positioned over said shaft,

a spider carried by said sleeve and formed to provide a plurality of vertical bearings, vertically reciprocating depositing devices slidably mounted in said bearings and carrying cam rollers, a grooved cam mounted on said stationary shaft and formed to reciprocate said depositing devices at least once for each revolution of the sleeve, a liquid reservoir carried by said spider and located above said cam, means for conducting liquids from said reservoir to said depositing de- Vices, and means associated with said depositing devices arranged for operation by a can positioned to receive liquid from said devices for permitting the discharge of liquid therefrom. V

6. A filling device for discharging liquid into cans and arranged for operation in connection With a can closing machine having double seaming mechanism, of means for discharging liquid into cans passing therethrough, comprising, a stationary shaft mounted on the closing machine and extending thereabove, a rotatable sleeve positioned over said shaft, a spider carried by said sleeve and formed to provide aplurality of vertical bearings, vertically reciprocating depositing devices slidably mounted in said bearings 

